Jaypee to invest 1250 crore in Himachal cement plants

Cement and infrastructure firm Jaypee Group will invest Rs 1,250 crore on raising the cement grinding capacity of its plant in Himachal Pradesh, in line with its plans to become the third-largest cement producer in the country by 2012.

"We will invest Rs 1,250 crore on enhancing our cement grinding capacity at our Solan plant (HP) and we hope it will take another two years to complete the project," Jaiprakash Associates, flagship company of Jaypee Group, Chief Financial Officer Rahul Kumar told reporters.

The company has proposed to add another 2.5 million tonnes per annum of cement grinding capacity with the projected investment. Currently, it has cement grinding and clinker grinding capacity of 4.5 MT per annum at Solan plant, which caters to northern market, including Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.

The Group has targeted to have a total cement making capacity of 34 MT by 2012 from the present level of 20 MT from all its plants across the country. "We have a vision to become third-largest cement producer by 2012 with the total capacity 34 million tonne," he said.